per Patterns of Fashion 4 WU ened re Me AR Me ede c.1540-1660 headwear and accessories for men and women UI enn nn eo eet eaPatterns of Fashion 4 The cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women c.1540-1660 CONCEIVED & ILLUSTRATED BY JANET ARNOLD COMPLETED WITH ADDITIONAL MATERIAL BY JENNY TIRAMANI & SANTINAM. LEVEY CONTENTS Introduction and Acknowledgements 2 Detailed ist of Photographs, Drawings and Patterns taken from Original Objects 3 The Art und Craft of the Semstress, Silkwoman, Cutwork Maker, Bone-Lave Maker, Bmbroideress and Laundress 5 Portraits and other Visual Sources with Photographs of Original Objects showing Stitching, Fabrics and Trimmings 17 Drawings and Petters taken from Original Objects 65 Measurements and Metric Conversions 124 Using the Patterns for Fullscale Work 125 Starchingand Setting Linens 126 Select Bibliography. 128 ‘The Janet Amold Award 128 Fir id Oy Mazin Crit dant Al, my Ran Sen Lee 08, Th i uM. Lee eed hor hrs ae i ym a rc hth Ch De nd Pe etThe Art and Craft of Semstress, Silkwoman, Cutwork Maker, Bone-Lace Makes imbroideress and Laundress ‘The tailor made both men's andl women's clothes until the and ofthe seventoonth century, when women tool over the making of clothes for their own sox. However, ‘women’s work had always encompassed the making tf linen clothing to satisty the needs of an individual, male or female, from birth to death. It was made ‘within the household, whether by servants, family members or an employed semstress. Linen ‘The raw material of linen is @ bast plant called lex. Between its woody core and outer bark are the bast ‘ores, which grow in continuous lengths from the soot to the tip af the plant. They are long, measuring ap to (1220mm), strong and glossy; they are a good fonduetor of heat and absorb moisture freely. In 1564 {Queen Elizabeth’ silkwoman, Alice Montague, ‘supplied ‘ex elles of Holland for oure Laundresse to trie our Partetios Asa plant, flax is tolerant and will grow in a wide variety of soils and environments, but the production Thigh -quality fibres far weaving, and alse for swing, 1s camplex and dependent an considerable sil and knowledge though all the stagos ofits conversion into thread, and then into woven linen The purchase and maintenance of linen was always & ‘major item of expenditure in a household budget, since everytody needed linen, ara fabrie woven from hemp, a coarser bast plant, ar from mixed fires Linen also varied in quality and in price, depending end-use and the wealth of the prospective sackcloth, canvas and the fine lawn of parent veils were all made of linen, while many 33 of elothing required linon of moro than one ight, asthe patterns in this book show. By the sixteenth centary, linen was woven in most uropean countries, even when dependent on Imported thread. The major centres were in northern Italy, which producod a smooth, creamy and closely ‘woven linen, ideal for openvork decoration; while the Tinon of Flanders and the Low Countries was already runowned for its exceptional delicacy and even ‘weave. Continental linen wns sold by the ell, which varied in length from country to country, but the Flemish ell, which was equal to 27", or three-quarters fan English yard of 36", occurs most frequently in the rords. When the county of aigin isnot given, it in impossible to compare prices, e2pecally as eelvedge ‘widths also varied and are seldom mentioned. One bonus ofthe patterns is the numberof different selvedgo widths they record; they range from 25" [17] o414' [22] wide, Some are among the shires and mocks, but the largest number is provided by ruff 22, which is mado from eighteen selvedge width, that, unlike the other nafs, are cut from eleven different linens. The heavier linen used for the nekand is also pioceds it ie @ good example of succesful Fregality. 1. The story of Graces and his vrtucus wife Cornelia Engraving after Johannes Stradanus, 1578. Douce Portolio 139; 795, Ashmolean Museu, University of Oxford. . Datel ofT showing the sewing basket, with threads and a pair of small shears A. Running site B. Book stitch ‘The Workforce (Clothes cut and sewn together by the tailor were often elaborately decorated with embroidery worked bby professional male embroiderers using precious and semi-precious stones, seed pearls, spangles, beads tnd a variety of metal threads, ineluding purl ‘The workforce dedicated tothe making and oenamenting of linen clothing was quite different [Almost exclusively female, it encompassed both ‘amateurs and professionals; as women, they were butside the guild system, and although they established their own, usually small-scale apprenticeship schemes, they had a built-in flexibility ‘The Semstress ‘She was the key figure, whether amateur oF IV. Thrve parallel rus of running stitches of equal length and intervals, to gather into cartridge pleating. V.A variant of felled seam. 1, Folded edge felt stitched from RS. 2. Fell the turnings on WS. ‘VLA. Felled hem. B, Whip stitch joining two seloedges. professional. As her name suggests, the semstress ‘was responsible for sewing together the component parte of linen clothes, which she had also cutout ‘This she did without the aid of euch printed or manuseript patterns as those available tothe tailor She relied on inherited knowledge and the use of differently sized reetangular panels to cut out the parts required for one or more items of elothing fom. 8 given length of linen. Her skill lay in fine, regular tnd strong sewing, working seams of running and ‘back stitches, and, for greater strength or neainess, variants of fell scams, She also hemmed the clothes, worked the cartridge-pleatod gathers of simple Tocking to control the Fullness ofthe fabric, applied facings and attached the neck and wristbands. Small we ruffles began to be added to shirts and smocks as linen elathing beceme more elaborate in the ‘mid sixteenth eentury, but the most spectacular use of tartridge pleating ean be seen in the construction of {he huge rufls around 1600 [28 & 24], Her range of skill expanded as the decoration of linen elothing became more important. Although samplers remained throughout the sixteenth century the main means of exchanging new stitches or new designs, the adventVIL. Double-running stitch. VIII Peters to be worked in double manning stitch, [Byn new Kunstich Boieh, Peter Quentelt, 1527, IX, Detail ofa linen smock embroidered in back stitch of printed pattern books quickoned the spread of new styles and techniques. The frst book was published in Augsburg by Johann Schénsperger before 1523, ‘when his second, datod book was published. The signs included angular, stepped patterns imported from Islamic Egypt, where they had been common sinco early Medieval times. They were worked over counted threads in double-running stitch, and were Immediately copied in other patter books. Their popularity is shown by examples on surviving clothes land by thoir depetion in portraits; the later English ‘name of Holbein stitch’ is understandable but Jnaccurate. Matt or satin stitch is another counted thread stitch, similarly angular inform, although not linear stitch. But both belong toa group of stitches that are either reversible or equally neat on both sides, Other examples are true or marking cross stitch, long-armed eross stitch and two-sided Italian ross stitch; they answer the neads of clothes mhere both sides of the linen ave visible The semstress was also involved in developments associated with the use of openwore seams to join and longsarmed cross stitch, very neat on the W.S. 6.1600. Museo del Tessuto, Prato X. Pattems for embroidery in matt or sain stiteh. A Schole-House for the Needle, Richard Shoreleyker 1692. Collection of John and Elizabeth Mason. sections of clothing together. Meir straight edges have narrow turnings, which in all-white examplos have arrow inner lines of cut and withdrawn threads, leaving vertieal threads that are pulled into iny openings by the hem stitehes. The linen insertion stitches are worked into the hems and are sometimes replaced by narrow lengths of linen braid or by linen Done (bobbin) lace. Following these small beginnings, more threads were ‘eat and withdrawn, guided by the grid ofthe woven threads, to create a small open mesh over-sewn with linen or coloured sill, But asthe grid became larger and the filling of the aquares more complex, a new technique emerged, known in England as cutwork and in France as point coupé. To what extent some semstresses chose to specialize in one or other of these techniques is not known, although itis clear that their basic skills of fine plain sewing remained ‘paramount in the production of fine linen clothing. ‘The Sillewomen When openwork seams joining sections of linen Xv XI. Linear patterns tobe stitched or couched. A Schole-House for the Needle, Richard Shoreieyker 1632. Collection of-John and Elizabeth Mason. XIL Opentwork insertion seam betveen body, sleeve ‘and gusset of shirt 2. e-1860-80. Boyerisches clothing logether wore worked with coloured fl silk, the sematross either rlled or tumed under and hhommed the edges almost invisily with fine linen ‘thread before working aver them with coloured lass in a decorative form of blanket stitch. The sections fare linked most sap by taking a floss thread to and fo through the floats of the blanket stitches, although ‘most insertion stitches are more complex. The floss silk was supplied by the silkwomen, who were quick torespond tothe demand for decoraved linen clothing. ‘They belonged to s longeestablished group of {independent women, who were never part of the king for queen's household, but fanetoned like members of amale city company. They worked in the City of London, importing luxury goods including small pieces of goldsmith’ work, spangles, metal threeds, Tinea, linen threads, and raw or semi-processed sill, ‘which they finished and wove into ribbons, or converted, using a variety of techniques, into narrow trimming, ring, anes, any buttons and netted From 1862 to Apel 1, Queen Elizabeth's ‘Notionalmuseun, Munich, XIIL, Variations of openaiore insertion seams. XIV. Closed blanket stitch XV. Hem stitch, with drawn threads XVI. Whist rule of shirt 1. The linear pattern in blue ‘rows sth relates to the outline patterns in XI. (1535-50. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. sillewoman was Alice Montague, who in 1564 “delivered to Elizabeth Smithson our laundres for our tue three ounces di of lke. xj Pair of partlt laces of gold and silver... One oun of fine Sisters thre Half a yarde of fine laune: seven yards of Ruffes of laune for a partlet wrought with black Spanish worke tnd edged with gold bone lace: ‘The Cutwork Maker Among the items Alice Montague supplied inthe summer of 1662 wore xxlij yard of White Cutt work for ruffes & xv) yards di of Broade Cutt worke rues fora partlett and ‘lvij yards of white Flaunders ruffes purid, ii) Flaundors worke Bandes Raise All are likely to have been imported via Antwerp to be ‘mounted on the Queen's linen clothing by her ‘The laborious process by which plain linen was converted into an open-work fabric of great delicacy baad started with the narrow, open-work hem af the sematrese. Both Venice and Flanders produced white embroidery and cutwork of great beauty, but the mostxvi XVIL A, Blanket stitch. B. An eyelet hole ward in Blanket stiteh, C. A worked bar XVIIL Cutwork design. A Schole-House fr the Needle Richard Shorey 1632, Collection of J. ana B. Mason Aetailed account of how the lingerie trade contributed to the emergence of eutwork is provided by the archive of Christopher Plantin and his family, now in tho Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. Plantin moved from Paris to Antwerp in 1548/19 and ablished himself as a printer and bookseller; his wife, Jeanne Riviere, sold fine lingerie, as did her daughters, most notably Martine, They sold Piece goods embreidered with white linen thread in ‘ait stitch, and inereasingly ornamented with ‘open-work lines involving drawn thread, pulled fabric ‘ork and back stitch. By the 1560s, those ware being ‘worked in double and triple lines, and with larger ‘openings based on the warp and wet of the woven linen, [took over twenty years fo large-seale cutwork to replace white embroidery, ut on 2 December 1571, Martine dispatched an order for 363 cutwork rufts to Pierre Gassen, who acted as their agent in Paris, From the late 1570s onwards stwork deminated ruff, eas, bands, eof, shirts snd smock. ‘Throughout its lif, high-quality eutwork kept its sletal structure of warp and wot threads, which ave ita stability not achioved by other means, The ‘cthod of replacing the square grid with plaited and Wisted linen thread couched te a parchment pattern backod with layers of thick linen produced a fess Stable and lee fine version of eutwork but it paved the way for true needle lace, as did the projecting points worked along the edges of wrist and neck ruts, which increased in size asthe ruffs grew larger They wore worked frely, stitch by detached sti, to form teiangular motifs, which by the early 1570s, are described in tho Plantin records as raises & Tequill’ (points worked with the needie), s, outer edgings of bone-lao, made with fairly thick linen thread, began tobe attached to ruts ‘or bands of cutwork, and it was bone, or bobbin, lace that was to be the final stimulus fr the emergence of ‘ruo need lace; independent of any geometvie grid ‘and capable of being worked to any design. The use of Done (later wooden) bobbins ta manipulate a variable ‘number of threads in the making of narrow, open-work. braids was one of the novelties ofthe second quarter othe sixteenth century. It prabably emerged from the passementerieindustzy of Italy or Spain, almost certainly feeding on the silk end metal threads ‘entering Kurope from Bast and West. The earliest ‘roferenco s0 far found in England orcurs in the Exchoquer Accounts for 1545, when gold bane. Iago was XIX. A sampler of eutwork, unfinished, 1650-75, Victoria and Albert Museums, London. XX & XXL. A bobbin or bone lace designs from A Schole-House for the Needle, Richa Shoreleyker 692, Collection of John and Elianbeth Mason bought to trim Henry VII “bonnittes “Tae association of bone le and linen clothing was ‘tuckly established, as shown by the first seoount book opt by the young Lady Cavendish (née Hardwick) in 15481550. During the winter of 1545-9, she bought ‘wyte howone [bone) worke for eoufes for my smokes Ve ij and ‘for narowe bown worke for my smokes coltss, xjd while later L4a were spent on ij yards fof bone work fori shertos at xiii the yerde’. By the ‘summer of 1549, she was buying coloured silk and ‘metal threads to have the lace made within her household Payed for halfo a pounde of rede sylke for to worke bone worke wt je Payed for a nonce of sylvar to work bonelace wt. vjs Paved for j eunoes of glde to make lace for ancharchers xis Silk and metal threads were sold by weight, because of their high value. The earliest bone lace seems to hhave boon made with slvergit fle thread using paired threads, each pair worked as one to produce & ‘hunky open braid, as suggested by the heavy patterns in the appropriately named Le Pompe, the frst pattorn book devoted solely to bobbin lace. Tt as XXIL-A bone Jace design from Le Pompe, Book 1, 1559. XXIII. Bobbin lace worked in alternate motifs of pik sill with steer thread and moss-green silk with silver gilt thread, edging. pair of linen drawers (9). sn Museum of Art, New York. printed in Venioe by the Sessa Brothers for Matio Pagano, one of the most prolific publishers of pattern books: Book I eame out in 1887, and Rook Il with a ifferent set af patterns in 1560, The only ather early pattern book devoted to bobbin lace was the Nie Modelbuch published in Zarich by Christoph Froschouer in about 1561. The author, known only by her initials ‘R MT, was a practising lace maker with twalve years experience as a teacher; she provides in her introduction details of how bobbin lace had been. brought to Switzerland in 1536 by merchant fram ‘Venice and Italy. She proferred linen thread lace, for its ease in washing, and disapproved ofthe growing use of more luxurious materials although some of her patterns are marked as silver oF gold models. She provides the number af bobbins needed for each patter but also advises how a thicker or thinner offet can be achieved with a change of thread, or by adding pairs of bobbins, RMT recommends linen bobbin Ineo a8 practical means of decorating household linens, and also as a way of earning a living. Bone or bobbin lace proved to be exceptionally versatile. It could be simple or complex; within the reach of children and amateurs, or made only by the ‘most skilled workers, Valuable metal lace, lke that made inthe sixteenth century, was by the lavesav SOX XXIV. Embroidery design fora Pelican in her Piety. A Schole-House for the Neale, Richard Shoreleyker, 1632. Collection of John and Elizabeth Mason, aay, lean in her Piety embroidered on a purse 70, XXVI. A Pelicwn in her Pity embroidered in black silk on a linen waistcoat c.1815-20, showving another use ofa similar design. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, XXVII & XXVIIL Designs for embroidery motif, A Schole-House for the Needle Richard Shorieyer, 1632 Collection of-John and Elizabeth Mason. XXIX. A woman sewing witha pillow on her lap. ‘There are several rows of parallel running stitches seventeenth century, under the contral of the professional male Laceman. Only a thinner form of silversilt or silver Ince on a par with linen thread lace remained within the scope of the female lace makers in London and other major cities. Ivean be seen trimming such linen elothing as nightcap, cif, rus and waistcoats, as well as gloves, pursos and othor accessories. Thread lace, made of thread, was worked domestically and professionally in many countries, and visitors to England commented ‘on its prasonee in Devonshire and the Midland ‘countias. Shakespeare, who must have aaen the lace makers on his journeys beck to Stratford, refers in ‘Rwelfth Night to"The spinsters and knitters in the sun, and the free maids that weave their thread with bone’ In aroas where fine thread ws available, as well as visible, a in cartridge pleating. Detail ofan engravings after Johannes Stredanus, 1578, Douce Portfolio 139; 795. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. XXX. The slecos of linen smock 1620-30 (78), embroidered in pink silk, stem stitch with isolated ‘motifs of plants and animals, including the double sail skilled designors and makers, the versatility of white linen bone-Iace enabled it to respond to every twist of fashion and, in many casos, to lead it. It copied ceutstork with exso, but it also showed the way forward ‘with the beautiful pattemed, sot scallops of the Flemish bone lace ofthe late 1620s onwards ‘The Embroideress ‘As with other members of the workfore, the ‘embroidererof linen clething was woman sometimes an employed specialist, but often a skilled amateur. Their names seldom feature in the records, ‘and the only linen embroideress mentioned in the Hardwick Accounts is Anne Mylner, who in June 1599 was paid fora pece of worke wrought wt collard sylkes, thirteen shelling and given her xijd'as a reward (Hard. Ms8, £54]. Inthe sixteenth contury, ‘motif in XXVIL Victoria and Albert Museum, London. XXXL. Running stitches in parallel rows embroidered inpink silk ona linen smock (83) 1605-15. Wadham College, Oxford. XXXIL Motif embroidered in a variation of pekinese ‘embroidery was still an expected accomplishment of a ‘well-born woman, and same of the gifts made for the King or Quoon at New Year were worked by the ‘donors. This was more likely earlier in the century ‘when among Henry VIII's wives and daughters were several embroiderers. Katharine of Aragon had two ‘working stools for gentilwomen’ among her ‘possessions, which were either low stools on which ‘they sat when working with a hard sewing pillow on their knoo, or the pillow itself, which sometimes had ‘a wooden base. Sesving pillows were essential tols {or fine work, whether by semstress or embroideress ‘They supported the fabric, which could be pinned ‘onto it, or secured atone end and held taut to run @ sathering thread, or whip @ hem, much as sewing-bird or clamp was Used inthe nineteenth century. They can be seen in several paintings and tte with red silk and silver gilt thread on linen shirt (12, 1580-1600. Museum of London XXQXIML Top: Pekinese stitch. Bottom: Running stitches in rows, also used for specling and shading XXXIV, Top: Stem stitch, Bottom: Chain stitch engravings, including one besed on a drawing by ‘Johannes Stradanue and dated 1678 [1 & XXIS], ‘which depicts one woman seated on alow stool, with sewing pillow on her lap, and a second seated ‘oman resting an embroidery or needlework frame on the hard pillow. Katharine of Aragon has been credited with introducing double-running atiteh ‘worked with black silk into England. The stiteh may well have travelled north from Islamie Spain, and she is ikely to have known it. But the term ‘Spanish Stitch was applied tot by Peter Quentellin his 1527 plagiarized version of Schinsperger's book. In the 1647 Inventory of Henry VII's goods there is, for example, a table set of fine linen “wrought with red spanyshe stiche'and Spanish sewing silk waa certainly Important because its dyes were fast and, in particulay, the ble dye did not ran.‘The future Queen Blizabeth was more than 2 competent embroiderer; ahe is belioved to have ‘worked the covers af four books of prayers (daree of ‘Which survive) that she had translated lo present as {gilt to Quoen Catherine Parr in 1546. The cover i the British Library ia not of wrought linen, bu isa fairly early English example of needlework on linen ‘canvas worked with silk and metal threads in detached stitches, elmost anticipating what was to ‘cur in embroidery towards the end of her reign. By then, the divisions between different groupe of ‘workers were breaking down, and large, often isolated households provided fertile ground for tho mixing of rnaterils stitches and diffrent alle. Tae degree to ‘whieh those formerly dstine: skills had changed is ‘Mlustrated by an apprenticeship agreement, signed in September 1597, by which the young gir, Margeret Davis, was apprenticed to'Josine Graunger of London. widow. to woorke all manor of Cuttworke Bonelaces Needlewoorke edginge And also all ‘manner of Blackwoorkes And allso to woorke wth foulde and sille and all manner of playme woorces and ‘whatsoever elles belongoth toa woorkewoman’, Bssex County Record Otic, [DyDp 228) ‘Sewing Equipment ‘Skilled workers have always owned the specialized tools oftheir trade, In 1571, for example, the stock of john Wilkenson, Merchant of Newenstle, inckaded ‘ai clowtes of talier (tailor) needles xvi ii’, and alo x clowtes of fine somstar nedles vis. A owtaleite/out was a cloth into which a thousand noodles were stuck in rows [XXXVI], as they were Ter stuck though paper: tho cst ofthe tailr’s and the semster's needles was the same per cowie, although they clearly differed. Coarse needles for unspecified purposes were only a quarter of the price, while in 1573, ‘gj elaites of Spannish nedles' rooorded in the stock of the Southampton Merchant, Reynold Hows0, cost xxv, mare than three times as much as those ff the tailor and semstress, They were probably of Spanish steel, Thimbles were also specialized to suit diferent trades; they were imported wholesale by the thousand, but could bo sold singly inthe retail trade; the stock of the Durham meteor, Jobn Farbock, in 1597 included ‘xij dosen and a half of wornan’s Uhimbles 21d’, Pins were also important tools needed by the semstross, the sottr of rfs, the lady's maid, the bone-Iice maker and the domestic sewer. They ‘ried in Iength and thickness according to their purpose. The quantity imported into London on a ship The Edward, in 1967, carried a total of dozen clouts, each containing a thousand pins 1 total cost was £20, a very substantial sum, Li Linea shirts and smocks were worn next to the skin {o protect outer garments from sweat or grease, and depending on the wealth ofthe owner the sane shiet fr smock might be worn in bed. The shape of both shirts and smocks followed the changing lines of. ‘outer clothing. When tightly fitted two-pioeo curved sleeves became fashionable in the 1610s the sleeves of smocks and shirts beeame narrower to fit comfortably beneath them. Conversely, in the 1650s shirt and smock sleeves grew fuller to fill the slashed fand open sloeves of bodices and doublets [patterns 15 a5) Men's Shirts Very few plain shirts survive from the sistaenth and early seventeenth eanturies, There was a secondary tse for any sound sections of linen from damaged shirts, and even the 1547 Inventory ofthe possessions of Henry Vill records xij night shirtes of sondrye ‘sortes some verey meane and worne [11604]. The to examples in this hook, 7/8A [pattern not included) fand 15, survive as relic. Shirta aro made from the ‘width of linen with straight sido seams, and often with extra gathering atthe neck allowing for chest land shoulder muscles. There were changes to the neckline and variations in decoration over the yoars, bbat the basic, straight-sded shape continued well into the ninctoonth contury, as confirmed by the pattern diageama in The Workwonan's Guide, 1838, PXXXVI] and other nineteenth-centary publications. ‘The decoration of shirts was not unexpected in & period when men took as much pleasure as women in ‘isplaying their fine clothes. Thomas Forster the ‘younger of Ederston, for example, who died at the lage of twentyreight in November 1687, was proud to bequeath his apparel to his won Matthew ‘to use upon, himself or his brethren’ It included } shirt, wroughte XXXVI OAV, Brass needles, pins and thimbles. XXXVI. Brass pins, some wrapped in a white cloth, Both from the ‘wreck of @ Venetian ship, oesibly the Gagiana, near Ghali, ¢.1583. Institute for Mediterranean Heritage, University of Primorska. Three white linen shirts were ‘among tho other goods recovered from the wreck ‘vith blewe sil and silver’, valued at 22s, which he hhad prebably worn with his best sot of black velvet venetyans and doublet, worth di. He also had‘) payre of lewe stokinges' and a erkyn, garded with blewe velvet, 10s", Some twenty-seven years later, the inventory ofthe goods of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, Garter knight, and a very wealthy man, included his apparel with valuations: ‘a couple of verie fine Holland shirtes with an open Jace at 30s a piece ij and 12 other plaine shirtes of Holland at 4s a piece vjli’. Not-so much above that of Thomas Forster's shirts us might be expected. While Henry VIIL, Bdward VI and later Jamos I ‘were on the throne, for those not expected to give plate or purses fll of gold coins as a New Year's tilt, a handsome shit seams to have been the preferred choice. In the Gift Rel for 1533/34 a shirt Frrrougt with blacke worke’ was given ‘by the young Lady Guldeford’ (Anne Boleyn), and there were fifteen more wrought shirts and two collections of collars and eulla worked half ith gold flé and balf with silver, Later in the same $year, a merchant travelling in the Far East sent the King exotie aut, monly, and ‘a shirt of fine ‘eambrie entirely wrought with white silk, which is very fair, The shirt was also recorded in the 1547 Inventory as a garment of white Iyanen clothe of Indian making enbrawdered with white ailke [11589]. In 1539 the six-yenr-old Princess Elizabeth presented the two-year-old Prince Edward with 'A Shyrte of camylce of her awn maleynge’. Small though the shirt must have been, that wns quite an achievement; perhaps even a labour of love. XXXVIT, Layout for the mast economical use of fabrie fora man’s shirt. The Workwoman's Guide, by @ Lady 1828. XXXVINL The fop of a man’s linen shirt with vertical lines of needlelace insertions, «-1615-85. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Katherine of Aragon had always made Henry VIII's shirts and continued to doso, even after divorce proceedings against her had been set in motion. ‘Almost a contury later Brilliana, Lady Harley of Brampton Bryan Castle, Salop, made shirts for her beloved son, Ned, a student al ‘Magdaline Hall Oxford’ April 22, 1612:"T have made 2 shirts for you... [purpose to send them this weak"... Apel 80 Ihave sent your 2 shirts by your sister and hhaue sent for loth to make you 4 more .. June 4 Thaue sent you by this earrer, in a box, 8 shirts; there is another, but it was not quite made; one of them is not wasched; Iwill, an pleas God, send you another the next weal, and some handeherchers ‘They were sent on 25 June. Despite detailed descriptions in inventories and fccounts, its not easy to find images of shirts in paintings. Where a man is shown without any buter garment to cover the shirt, and his history is known, it appears to record a traumatic event and. tobe a mark of suffering, liness or distress ‘The areas of a shirt most often visible are those beneath slashed doublets or jarkins where the embroidery or lace decoration is carefully positioned ta show through (XXXVIII. The front pening and neckband also provided an area for fisplay, and most importantly the neck and wrist ruffles as they steadily increased in size from the ‘mid-1660s onwards. They eventually became tached from the shirt to form a separate item of ‘lothing, although shirts continued to have neck fand wristhands, a® well as the separate ruff, as a part of the growing fashion for layered neckwear as ‘iscussed below10 XXX XXXIX, The wife ofthe Lord Mayor of London wears ‘a shaped rf. Etching by Wencoslaus Hollar 1646, Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester Ci Galleries, XL. Picews of a metal supporter for a shaped rujfor band. There isa hook atthe C.F of the left-side, made {rom the wire that goes around the neck, 1620-40, STAM, Stadsmuscum, Ghent, XLL. Detail of XL showing how the log sealloped shapes of the supporter ae constructed from a ‘eontinuous length of wire that is twisted round and round the neck wire inbetween the shapes. The wi fattened forthe rounded ends of the sealops, XLII. A standing band of imitation lace, made from stiffened opensveave fabric with outlines of applied paper or parchment. This band is the same shape as the rebato worn by Elizabeth, Countess of Brunswick IRL, pd), Musée de Cluny, Paris. XLII Drawings of neckwear from The Academy of Armory by Randle Holme, 1658, The Society of Antiquaries of London, The following are the ‘accompanying lets Neckwear Rtfs For many people, ite the neclewear, and in particular the ruf, that epitomizes high fashion during the second half ofthe sisteenth and the early seventeenth centuries, Ruffs were worn throughout [Europe by both men and women, std in a wide variety ofstyles, Many wore further elaborated with ‘embroidery, lace and trinkots, bringing down on their ‘owners’ heads the condemnation of Phillip Stubbes 6 L.A laine Band, with Band Stringe pendant. This isan Ornament for the neck, whichis ofthe finest ‘ehite Linnen cloth, as Flasen, Holland, Lawn, &e: & is made by the art ofthe Seamster,and Washed and Starched, Slickened and Smoothed by the care ofthe Landrese. In the begining of the rage of King Charles the first Yellow Bands were much used, which were Dyed with Safron, and Supported ruin the ek by Picadill, of which see more numb, 7. 2. A Band Laced, (ora Lace Band) the Band Strings Pendant 3. A Spanishe Ruffe 4.A falling Ruff, with Strings pendant and others, who railed against such finery: ‘logged with gold, silver a ilk Ince of stately price, wrought allover with the sonne, the mone, the stares and ‘many other antiquities strange to behold. Yet, despite such show, they were all constructed from long Straight strips of fine lawn or cambrie, joined together ‘and gathered into what are now called cartridge Pleats, and attached to a neckband. The total length ofthe joined strips in the seven rus chartod here vary from 1% yards [21 vo 19 yards (28), and this affected the shape, of ast, to some extent, but the 5. A naunal Ruff, with Strings pendan .. Three such is bor by the name of Ruffler Rujfs are generally Cloth folded ty Art into sets, or turnin, fr iva oF heights or doubling of Cloth 6.A Woman's Neck Whish .. Ths i used bot ‘and Laced, and is called of most a Gorgett ore falling Whisk, becouse it falleth about the Shoulders A Night Rail, i Ladies undress, being made after the fashion of a Whish, but with larger compass, reaching from the Neck, round about the person to the middle or was; it is made Plain or Laced, or Wrought with Neale Work, acvoring tothe Wearor’s Nobility A Pinner or Tucker is @ narrow piece of Cloth Plain or Laced, which compassed the tap ofa Womans Gown variety of diferent forms into which rus were shaped depended primarily onthe laundress and her sil with starch and the poking stick in ereating new, Aamboyant sots, or seemingly plain but perfect figures-of-eight. The laundveas could change the shape ofthe sets ofa single rut from wook to week, producing a eomplotoy differnt effect. As with other ‘examples of ‘pure fashion’ they were taken to extremes, including shaped ruff for which the shorter front section was achieved by tapering the ‘necorsary strip of linen towards the C.F atthe neck about the Neck par In this Square in the Base, is the shape of @ Cravatt ted up in a Bow Knott 7. Neck Whisk rounded and lace round the Neck touching no pat ofthe shoulders, ut is supported by « Pickadil, which was a stiff Collar ‘maciein the fashion of ¢ Band; which kind of wear twas much in use and fashion in the last Age by our Inglish Gallants both Men and Women, as the Monuments ofthat time doth further manifest; for itis ‘redibly reported that that famous place near St Tames called the Pickadill, took denomination from this, that one Higgins, « Taylor, who built it, got most of is Betate by Picadills. which standeth ‘edge, so thatthe outer edge ofthe ruff was still on the straight of grain [sce pattern 20), Ruffs attracted satire in words and images, as well as condemnation, but continued to develop, some ruffs being made with double, treble and quadruple layers Although itis sometimes diffeult to explain why certain fashions arise, there were several factors that probably contributed tothe fashion for the standing band. At first the starched ruff was partly supported by small tabs on the collar band of the doublet or Dodie, ae on 28, but finally, ae it grew langor andxuiv TBA. 1625-30 anger, it needed the support ofa wine frame. These nderproppers were almost completely concealed seneath the ruf and it may have been their decorative ‘quality hich resulted in Uhese smooth bands made of ‘raneparent linen ore bordered with lace, or made entirely of lace, being wom quite flat allowing the Thape of the wires tobe axen more easily, Much nailer quantities of fine linen and decoration were rejuirod fr theae standing bands, and they we ‘easier to lounder than raffs. They were not ‘ocoasarily cheaper, however, heeause they proved to -e popular with such young men as John Carleton, vho in 1613 was deseribed ina letter written by the ‘courtier John Chamberlain, in response to an enquiry rom his uncle: T eannot waite you much of his ecurces, setuse [have not much of his company, but I see m vary fine and neat, or rather curious, eapecially ‘catwork bande, wherein our youth are become #0 “ain, that an ordinary band, with double cul, costs six or seven pounds, and some much more. And upon speech of this and the like, his father told me that he had a hundred pounds worth of such wear’. This was sta time when the highest paid servant in a large household, usualy the steward, was paid £10 a year. Both raff and standing band continied to be worn ito the 1620, es deaeibed in A Merrie Dialogve woene Band, Coffe, and Rffe, performed at Cambridge University in 1619, Cuffe chides both Band and Ruffe for swearing by all the Gumme and Blow starch in Christendom’, not to know Mistris Stitchwell the Semster, ‘Tsay Misteria Stitchwell the Semstar was the very maler of you hot; yet thus tle doe you regard her, but i isthe common 5 (nok shan on page 40) custome of you all, when you come to bee #0 great as {you are; you forget from what house you come’, The ‘vary Betwoon Ruffe and Band is finaly resolved by Cuffe, who points out that ‘men of Law, which know right from wrong... they shall preferre neither, but ve the kindnesse of you both, wearing both a Band and a Rue’ This layering of neekwvear and other clothing was common throughout the period ‘As detailed in his descriptions as Stubbes but for a Aiffaront purpose, was Randle Holme of spent over forty years gathering mater ‘manumental study, The Academy of drmary or Store-house of Arms, published in L688, He deals in great detail with every object that might form part of ‘coat of arms, including elathing and the people who ‘make and maintain them. His list of neckwear is helpful in identifying the names given to certain styles [XL Supporters, Pickadils and Rebatos Although inherently fragile, chanoo survivors of long-gone fashion, the supporters gathered here provide a rare overview of a litle-studied area, The blue supporter [25] stiffenod with whalebones (inserted between two layers of linen and separated by backatitehed channels as on women's corsets) and the pasteboard pickadile[26, 27 & 28] are almost certainly tailors work, But the rebatos aro particularly intriguing and seem to have emerged from the head attres and other confections of the sillewomen; they range from bare Wires shaped ta suppor a shaped ruff or band (SL & ‘XLI) to wires wrapped with coloured ails and metal 419A, 1020 162830 IN. 1516, strips, tumed into standing bands in their own right by the addition on one or bith sides of « mix of fabries and passementare, Soveral are of choap but showy materials, and two imitate the effects of bone-lace andl drawn-thread york ky means of applied paper outlines of white thread stuck on with glue and Punched decoration [SLI & 85], anticipating similar copies in later centuries, Bands "The linen bands worn by men and women in the early decades ofthe seventeenth century are nol st First sight as varied asthe ruffs. But more subtle differences were created by the use of white on white ‘embroidery, cutwork and bone (bobbin) lace edgings of various types, qualities and cost as wel as differently shaped necklines and m in eee. In the opening yeers of the reign of James I some bands wore still made inne with a linen sit smpek or partot (12, 13, 79, 88 & 48}, but the more laborate examples were already being made as Separate items of clothing. ‘Arectangular panel of linen continued to form the basis ofthe band but Uhis was often obscured by cutivork, oF the addition of deop Ince scallops and boron, The main problems of construction remained the shaping with darts at the neck edge ofthe band and its smooth attachment to the neckband, and the ‘manipulation of an added border round the two outer corners ao that the lace or linen would lie flat across the back. This was achieved either by gathering the Jace into the comers, as on pattern 88, or by the use of invortod pleats on pattern 40, esl yariatios 1588 1550 XLIV. The development of the eu from 1580-1650. The above cuffs are details of portraits in the colour section using the same number, with ther dates. 28D ‘shows a deliberate gap between the ends of the cull n-stand of the doublet sleeve i, there the but Wristwear Linen wristwear, though small, was important. Wrist ruffs and eufls completed a set for whatever form of peclewonr was in fashion. During the two middle ‘quarters of the sixtecnth century, before neck nnd ‘wristtear became separated from shirts and socks, thore are examples of plain neekbands worn with wrist rulfles and vio Gores. After e.1985 when rus and bands started to become separate items the most ‘common combinations worn at neck and wrists wer hand and cuff, ruff and viet rufle, ruff and cults Calls wore cut on the straight grain, like a rut or hand, and had single or multiple layer, often worn together with cufis attached tothe sleeves of the shirt, emodk or partlet. Occasionally they aped ‘extreme fashion, extending almest tothe elbow with Tong sallops of lace [80Al, but ofthe few that ‘survive, most belong to plainer sets as discussed below. There is, however, an elaborately decorated rebato with matching culls [32], which boing sown to 4 wire frame is cut to fit that shape without darts and regardless of the direction ofthe grain, as are the ceaffs. Experiments with cutting curved linen item, ‘such as etfs, seem vo have begun in the 1620s (see ‘SSC above] but were not always successful T practice of darting, pleating nnd gathering straight ‘grain linen into the desired shape continued until the Tite seventeenth century un12 Headwear ‘Headwear was important throughout the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Women’s heads were always covered when outside or in company, while a formal cade dictated when men should remove their Inats; when in the presence of the King or Queen, for example, they should be uncovered until given permission to recover. Coits Usually the shape of cof was draven out on a rectangular panel of linen, embroidered, and the ‘surplus linen was snipped, folded back and sewn {side the front curved edge needed to frame the face. ‘The straight top edgo wns folded in half and seamed together fora third toa half ofits length, leaving a zap atthe back of the head. A variety of means was tased to clote the gap, The fullness created atthe bac ‘was needed to nccommedate the bun of coiled hair ‘that iteovered. Also associated with the bun wore the long strings that survive on some cof, threaded through # channol or line of loops along the bottom edge (61, 62) The strings were pulled tight and then {ued round the bun on the outside to secure both hair ‘and coit. This s depicted in meticulous detail on the tomb sculpture ofthe ovo younger daughters f Sir ‘Thomas Hoby and his wife, Elizabeth Coke, in the {aml chapel, at Bisham Abbey, near Marlow in Buckinghamebire (51H Closely associated with coits were cross-clths and forehead cloths, which were worn to protect the forehead, then seen as a vulnerable area, especially in times of sickness, The simple triangular forehead ‘loth was usually made to match a cif [XLV]. They tvere tied on under the cof and partly concealed by it, tvith the long straight edge forming s band across the forehead. The eross-loth served the same purpose, and the names were probably interchangeable. That forming part of pattern 60 consists of a straight strip oflinen, reduced at its narrow ends by pleats and fttachod to tapes, by which it was ted on round the hhead, But the young woman hand shaping a band in the laundry section [LX] wears ane ofa slightly dllferent shape, ax does Lady Constable (51A], xiv XLV. Maiching cif and forehead cloth, Midleton Collection, 1600-10, Museum of Costume andl ‘Textiles, Nottingham. XLVI A man's embroidered nighteap of single piece “oflinen. Middleton Collection, ¢.1610. Muscum of Costume and Textiles, Notingham. XLVIL The nightoap in XLVI with the brim tuned up. Hoods ‘These were worn over the cols and, unlike the wired veils, the linen fell softly over the shoulders. Although ‘fair number survive from the later sixteenth and carly seventeenth centuries, it is not easy to find Images of them, Exeeptions are the Filmer Memorial Brass [XLIX] and a now lost monumental bras of about 1600 of Mary Busse, from St Peter Maneroft Norwich, which survives only as a rubbing [66A). The two hoods included in the patterns 56 and 97 differ in their eut and construction, although both have the central seam over the head, whichis clearly visible on the brass rubbing. Nighteaps Phain linen caps or cifs wore commonly worn at night, butby the late sixteenth century, elaborately embroidered ones were being worn during the day. ‘When the new Venetian ambassador was presented at Court in 1617, his chaplain reported that ‘Occasionally some ofthe chief lords and the favourite ‘wear on their heads richly embroidered caps there (Che Presence Chamber) under the pretence of having some imaginary indisposition. Many of these nighteaps survive and are closely related tothe ‘women's coifs in the style of embroidery, and trimmings. Like the forehead clothe, their cut and ‘onstruction are relatively simple, a9 shown by the Unfinished eap [XVIII], Drawn out on a straight strip of linen, they have spade-shaped quarters with pointed tds, and the lower hal ofthe border is embroidered on the WS., befare being tured up to form the brim. XIVIT XLVI XLVIII, The shape ofa nighteap drawn out and partially embroidered on linen. The brim portion of the linen ts tumed up «1600, Vietoria and Albert Museum, London. XLIX. The daughters of Sir Bdward and Dame Elizabeth Filmer, possibly wearing linen hoods similar to 86 and 87. Filmer Memorial Brass, 1698. ast Sutton Church. Phineas Pott wears such «nighteap [2BE}. Twenty-two designs for embroidering nightcaps are included in two ‘manuscript collections of designs produced by ‘Thomas Trevelyon in 1608 and 1616. Although rarely visible linen cap was sometimes worn beneath outor headgear; two such linen eaps are among the relies of Cristian IV of Denmark (40C] together with the eut- velvet caps ofa similar shape that he wore with them. Other Items Gloves ‘This pai of linen gloves (62] appears to be unique. In the sisteenth and seventeenth centuries, a huge number of gloves were wor or carried, given to ‘wedding guests and exchanged between lovers, while Visitors from abroad commented on their particular popularity among the English, yet relatively few survive. And of linen gloves although likely to have existed in some quantity, there is neither visual nor ‘written evidence. The only distinguishing features of ‘his pair are the eut and construction, which match ‘that of sft plain leather gloves, and the applied eas ‘with a distinctive stepped shape that ean be seen on. heavier gauntlet gloves from about 1610 to 1640. This, date would also suit the tiny embroidered sprigs and the black and white bobbin lace. Drawers "The three examples of linen drawers and breeches for whieh pattorns are given (68, 64 & 65} display two Gifferent kinds of eat and construction, The drawers ‘on p106 [64] are ofa basic shape with the crotch formed by the addition of gussets in a similar way to underarm gussets on shirts and smocks and are probably the work of a semstrese. By contrast, tho Tinen breeches (5) are cut and constructed as tailored breeches, witha lining and cast curves.'The clusion of 65 in this book is justified by the use in Italy of breeches as underwear. Examples include the painting of a Venetian courtesan wearing breeches {65D} and che observation by Fynes Morison, when in Italy, that "The city Virgins, and expecially Gentlewtoman .. i many places woare silke or linnen. breeches under their gownes' (Itinerary 1605-17). In the case of tho English, Randle Holme defines ‘@rawers for men as Linnen Breeches worn under the Breeches which are tied about the Waist and either above or below the Knees’ in The Academy of Armory, 1688. Hose For men, the torm hose covered both upper stocks oF ‘breeches and netherstocks or eventually stockings. Both the tailor and the hosier might be involved, but the seperation of tho two crafts developed slowly in the response to changes of fashion and the increasing availability of knitted storkings or nether-hose. Initially all hose were ext onthe eross from a variety offabrice including linen. Henry VII's wardrobe ‘sccounts for 1538 include for thrtipaire of bose, tnd thirtye paire of base soekies of fyre Iynnen clothe for oar use, allo oure greate warderabe’. On a warrant: : : i : : ; L L. A Venetian courtesan wears silk breeches like 65 under a very full cutwork smock. Detail from a painting by an unknown artist, c.1600. Private Collection. LI. A lady called the Duchess of Chandos wears an embroidered square-necked smock, visible around the neck edge of her gown, with a fine, transparent partlet over it. You can see the two edges of the paritlet at the dated 6 January 1539, Henry VIII’s hosier, William Croughton, was paid 40s for twelve pairs of linen hose and 18s 4d for four pairs of quilted linen hose, while in March 1542, he was paid 10s for lining with linen ten pairs of knitted hose and working them with ‘oilet holes’ to take the strings to tie them up. The role of linen for undergarments, to absorb sweat and to prevent the creation of sores from rubbing against rough shoes or embroidered outer clothes never stopped, but there is evidence of cut linen being used alone for outer hose, including a waist-length pair of linen netherstocks, without feet but complete with codpiece, found at Alpirsbach near Karlsruhe. (Hayward, 2007, p202). Queen Elizabeth’s hosier, Henry Herne, supplied the Queen with numerous pairs of double and single linen hose from the beginning of her reign until 1577, when knitted stockings replaced them. The linen hose were cut on the bias and seamed up the back of the leg,fitting tightly up to the knee where they flared out into wide tops, and such cut-hose continued to be worn, particularly with boots, well into the seventeenth century [67, 68 & 69]. LI centre front, 1578-9. Collection unknown. LII. Conjectured drawing of a woman wearing smock 81. LIII. Conjectured drawing of a woman wearing smock 81 underneath a pair of straight bodies. Her wheel farthingale is tied to her bodies with points all around the waist. See COSTUME No.41 for a pattern of the 1603 effigy bodies of Queen Elizabeth I. Women’s Smocks Most smocks worn in northern Europe were shaped by gores at the side starting from a point just above the waist, widening slowly over the hips down to the hem. These gores were sometimes cut in whole or in part with the rest of the front and back panels, if the linen is wide enough [75, 77, 79, 81, 82, 84]. This basic shape continued into the nineteenth century. A plain or lightly decorated smock was essential wear under a pair of bodies (corset). The decoration on surviving smocks often covers the neckband, sleeves and the area between the shoulder and chest level at the front and sometimes at the back as well [73]. It is not always clear when looking at a painting whether the more lawishly decorated linen sleeves and squares were part of a smock or separate items. For the very wealthy it would have been possible to enjoy permutations of differently patterned sleeves, partlets and even foreparts, with the decorated edge of the smock itself also appearing at the neckline. In 1577, Sir Gawen Carewe gave Queen Elizabeth ‘a camerick smock wrought with black silke in the collar and sleves, the square and ruffs worked with Venice gold LIT LITT LIV. Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton, wears a lace-edged smock under a pair of bodies, c.1600. Trustees of the 9th Duke of Buccleuch’s Chattels Fund. LV. Diagram of how to cut the skirt of a smock, using the whole width of the fabric and triangles turned and used as gores to create the flared shape. The Workwoman’s Guide, by a Lady, 1838. and edged with a small bone lace of Venice gold’. In this case the smock had a collar and was therefore high to the neck, so the ‘square’ referred to the embroidered area reaching from shoulder to chest level. The fashion for women’s gowns and doublets with high necklines and standing collars required smocks which reached to the chin to protect expensive silks and velvets from contact with the skin. These were made at first with narrow frills attached to the neckband, before they separated out into detached ruffs. Three other smocks, all from Mediterranean countries, among the patterns do not fit with the above description. All are without gores. 71 is Italian, as probably is 72, while 85 is Spanish or Portuguese. All three are extremely full smocks, and 71 is discussed further in the text accompanying the drawing on p110. The smock seen above [L] has vertical lines of cutwork and the folds suggest it is as full as 71 and 72. The construction may have been the same too; the widths of linen could have had their selvedges concealed along the edges of the cutwork lines, just as the embroidered lines hide the joins on smocks 71 and 72. LIV LV 1314 eyes : : S : 2 og Moon Fieww. | \ ee ge <> § The Art of the Laundress Washing, starching and ironing linens was a highly skilled, highly paid occupation in the sixteenth century. Once washed, both linen clothing and household linens such as sheets, napkins and tablecloths were dried and bleached outside, in fields where they were laid on the ground, the larger items being pegged down. When the new fashion for ruffs developed during the second half of the century the laundresses had to increase their range of techniques and equipment to achieve the many styles that evolved. The laundering of a ruff was a time-consuming business, which required considerable skill. Several surviving ruffs for which there are patterns in this book have initials embroidered into the back of the LVI. The area north of the City wall near Moorgate, where linens were dried and bleached. Several different groups of laundresses can be seen laying out linens in between paths across the fields. Detail from the Copperplate Map of 1553-59. London Topographical Society. LVII. Women lay out linens to dry on the grass. The fields extend to the far right of the picture, past the small hut. The items drying and bleaching include shirts, smocks, ruffs, sheets and long lengths of linen which are stretched and pegged out. Detail of a painting by Adriaen Van der Venne, c.1616. © The Trustees of The British Museum, London. neckband, probably because they were sent out of the household to professional laundresses to be set, and needed marks of identification. An engraving of monkeys ‘apeing’ the fashion, c.1570 [LVIII] shows the processes that took place in these starching houses. Once the ruffs had been delivered by customers and washed, they were covered in starch — described by the puritanical writer Phillip Stubbes in An Anatomie of Abuses, 1583, as ‘smeared and starched in the devil’s liquore’ and ‘dryed with great diligence streaked, patted and rubbed very nicely’. The starched linen had to be dried very carefully, particularly when coloured, to avoid a streaky effect. Coloured starches were popular in England. Stubbes wrote: ‘and this starch they make of divers LVIII LVIII. Monkeys ‘apeing’ the fashion, starching and setting linen ruffs, using setting sticks. An inscription on the engraving reads; ‘We'll wash, dry, iron, curl and beautify your ruff, We’re just as good as men — for you, can’t do enough’ substances, sometimes of wheate flour, of branne, corn and other graines: sometimes of rootes and sometimes of other thinges: of all colours and hewes, as White, Redde, Blewe, Purple and the like’. The shades were quite pale. Yellow starched ruffs were very popular and are often mentioned in plays of the period. They were coloured with saffron, the dried pistil of the autumn crocus, steeped in hot water. This gave almost the same colour as old discoloured varnish on a canvas, causing some portraits to have been cleaned a little too heavily, and the saffron ruffs have disappeared along with the varnish. Two monkeys sit holding the wet, starched ruffs in front of the fire, moving them gently to stop the layers sticking together as they dried. The ruff had to be completely dried and then lightly and evenly damped before ironing and setting. If it was not dried first the wet starch stuck to the setting sticks and scorched. The sticks were heated in a pan over a small fire of charcoal or coals. The first ones were made of wood or bone, but after 1578, according to John Stow’s 1632 Annales of England, steel sticks were introduced in all sizes. “You have a pretty set too! How big is the steel you set with?’ asks a character in the play The Dumb Knight by Gervase Markham, 1608. Steel Customers bring in their dirty ruffs which are washed, dried on the line, smeared with starch at the table on the left, dried by the fire and set by the monkey sitting centre front. Engraving c.1570. © The Trustees of The British Museum, London. sticks would have held the heat better. The monkey sitting at the centre front of the engraving is moulding the sets of a ruff into shape with a stick, on a specially designed wooden stand which she holds steady with her feet — a necessity as she had to push the stick firmly into the folds of linen. There is a joint halfway up the stand, probably with a pivot so that the laundress could keep turning the stand as she worked her way around the ruff. The skill lay in judging exactly how deep to adjust the sets and in keeping them level. Stubbes describes two different kinds of tools for setting ruffs in some detail. The first he calls a ‘putter, or else a putting sticke’ and describes them as ‘made of yron and steele and some of brasse kept as bright as silver, yea, and some of silver it selfe; and it is well if in processe of time they grow not to be gold’. He compares the putter to ‘a squirt, or a squibbe, which little children used to squirt water withall; and when they come to starching and setting of their ruffes then this instrument be heated in the fire, the better to stiffen the ruffe. For you know heate will drie and stiffen any thing.’ Curiously, these sound like hollow tools that somehow let out a spray of hot water or steam while shaping the ruff, like modern electric i ii aGees oe a LIX. A starching house with a woman having her ruff set while she is wearing it. Large setting sticks sit in a vessel of hot coals, and ruffs with sets of different shapes hang from pegs on the wall. The Pride of Women: Ruffs, an engraving after Maarten de Vos, ¢.1590. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. irons do. The second tool described by Stubbes is ‘a setting sticke, either of wood or bone, and sometimes of gold and silver, made forked wise at both ends, and with this they set their ruffes’. The forked shape of these setting sticks suggests a similarity to the forked goffering irons of the nineteenth century, and these may have been used to shape small, regular sets like those surviving on ruff 17. No putting or setting sticks of this period seem to have survived, but there is an entry in the Great Wardrobe Accounts of Elizabeth I, by Thomas Larkin in 160! ‘pro iij settinge stickes de Chalyb ad iiijs — xijs pro le pressinge iron ~ vjs’. Other entries in the warrants for ‘one pressing iron veric well steeled: for one setting stick: one stele bodkin’ in 1601, and ‘one setting stick and one curling iron of steele’ in 1602 would seem to show that ‘chalybeato' was steel rather than iron. ‘The art of starching seems to have started in the Low Countries and some of the most beautifully laundered ruffs are seen in Dutch and Flemish paintings. According to John Stow’s A Survey of London, 1598, Mistress Dingen Van de Passe, a Flemish woman, came to London in 1564. She was an excellent starcher and found plenty of work laundering the neckwear of LX. A Iaundress smoothing a fine darted standing band. into the perfect shape, ona raised, padded board above a brazier. Engraving c.1610. Douce Portfolio 138; 332. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. There is a pattern for a cutwork band of a similar shape (41) on p96. other Flemish refugees living in the city. Presently the Englishwomen noticed the neatness and delicacy of the linen and they began to send their daughters and nearest kinswomen to Mistress Dingen for lessons. Her usual price was, at that time, four or five pounds to teach them how to starch and twenty shillings to seethe starch, Stubbes commented bitterly, ‘I hear they say they have their starching houses made of purpose to that use and end only, the better to trim, and dress their ruffs to please the devil's eyes withall ... wherin they tricke up these cartwheels of the devil’s charet of pride, leading the direct way to the dungeon of hell’. The engraving shown above depicts a similar hellish vision of a starching house, with the setting sticks described as ‘Satan's tongs’ in the verse and the laundress depicted as a grotesque creature. Once the ruff had been laboriously laundered there were hazards to be avoided if one was going to wear it successfully. Left in a damp atmosphere the linen got rather limp and “Thy breath will thaw my ruffe’ was an apt warning by a character in Ben Jonson's 1599 play Every Man Out of His Humour, while Stubbes describes the ‘great and monstrous ruffes...they stand a quarter of a yarde (and more) about their necks, hanging over their shoulder poynts instead of a veile 1x LXL William Shakespeare wears a darted, standing band, supported by a pickadil. Engraving by Martin Droeshout in the First Folio, 1623. © British Library Board, All Rights Reserved. C.39.815. LXIL. A semstress's shop in the Galerie du Palais Royal. Among the linen items on sale are standing bands, falling bands, tuckers, pinners and. cuffs. To the left of this detail there is a Mercer's shop and a Bookseller's. Detail of an etching by Abraham Bosse, 1637. © The Trustees of the British Museum, But if it happen that a shoure of rain catch ther before they can get harbour, then their great ruffes strike sayle and downe they falle as dishclouts fluttering in the winde, like Windmill sayles’ When the falling ruffs and bands became fashionable at the beginning of the seventeenth century the maintenance needed for neckwear was lessened considerably, as described in the play The Malcontent by John Marston in 1604: ‘And do you hear? you must wear falling bands, you must came into the falling fashion; there's such a deal of pinning these ruffs, when the fine clean fall is worth all; and again, should you chance to take a nap in the afternoon, your falling band requires no poking stick to recover its form; believe me, no fashion liketh to the falling band, I say. While the demise of the stiffly starched standing ruff may have simplified the work of the laundress, her role remained a crucial one in maintaining the fine linens fashionable throughout the seventeenth century. However fine or coarse these linens were, at the end of their lives, when damaged and rejected, they still had a further use. They were the raw material for the paper mills, and were recycled to satisfy the growing demands of the book trade. 15LXVIII Details from a ceiling fresco by Alessandro Allori in the Pitti Palace, Florence, ¢.1580. LXIIL. A linen cap, a linen partlet with a neck ruffle and a long lace, for lacing bodies, hang on the washing line. LXIV. A long lace, two linen bands with lace edgings and a handkerchief hang on the washing line. One band is tied to the line by its bandstrings, while the other has three pairs vith tiny tassels. LXVIT LXV. Several linen bands and a handkerchief with tassels on the corners hang on the line. LXVIL Among the linen items on the line is a partlet with a neck ruffle edged in lace. LXVII. The pair of fine lace bands hanging on the line may be cuffs. The woman standing on the baleony has a wide ruff in her hands. She is using her fingers lo shape the fullness of the ruff into circular sets of equal size, possibly before it was hung on the line to dry. LXVIIL. The basket on the balustrade contains several linen bands and a ruff. Among the items on the washing line there is a partlet with a front opening edged. in lace and a full ruffle at the neck. The partlet is tied to the line by the strings on its hem. When worn it would have been tied at the sides under the arms by these strings, to secure it. There are also two pairs of bandstrings at the neck. LXIX. Detail of LXVII showing the laundress using her fingers to shape the linen ruffle.Shirts these shurts are wrought throughout with nedle work of silke, and such like, and curiouslie stitched with Phillip Stubbes, The / 1. Boy's shi e silk, 0.15: London. The narrow wristband is embroidered in an etric design. 1B. The neckband is made of two smbroidered, the facing inside the outside jung merchant wearing a shirt with an roidered neckband. Painting dated 1541, by Hans IE. Henry VIII wearing a sh mbroidered in a similar design, Detail of a unger, « Madrid. 2. Boy's white linen shirt and silver National 2B. The inside of the high neckband is embroidered with deep blue silk in double-running stitch and the embroidery would have been seen when worn open. 2C. Ippolito de Porto wearing a shirt with horizontal bands of embroidery around the neck and ‘The embroidered seams of the shirt those on shirt 1. Portrait by Giovanni Antonio Fasolo? €.1550. Museo Civico de Vicenza. nds and wrist ruffles are sariations of the embroidery design eS: 4 wep 2D. Both the Yr al PSE NO18 3. Boy's white linen shirt with a low-neckband, embroidered in crimson silk, c.1560-80. Museo det Tessuto, Prato, 3A. Edward, Prince of Wales, aged about fourteen months, wearing a shirt with a low neckband, Detail of a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, ¢.1538. Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington. BB. The edges of the shoulder piece, sleeve and body of e shirt are hemmed with linen thread and. then jined by open insertion stitches worked with crimson 4A 4, Boy's linen shirt embroidered in bright crimson silk with a design of acorn motifs, c.1550-80. Museo del Tessuto, Prato. 4A. There is a cross embroidered in crimson silk below the front neck opening. 4B. A side seam with hemmed edges, joined together with open insertion stitches in bright crimson silk. AC. The end of the sleeve is gathered into the narrow wristband and the join is embroidered in crimson silk. The hemmed edge o ewn to the folded. edge of the wristband with open insertion stitches. 4D. The bandstrings are candy-striped twists (like those in 4B) of crimson and white threads. 4B. Ludovico Martinengo wearing a shirt embroidered in red silk and wrist ruffles that do not have much fullness. Detail of a portrait by Veneto Bartolomeo, ¢.1550. NG287 © National Gallery, London. lwer-gilt thread, with silk thread. The white linen neck binding is embroidered with a diamond pattern in crimson silk. 3C. Detail of W.S of neck edge. The linen neck binding is not embroidered on this side. The bottom row of gathering stitches used to pull in the fullness of the shirt is visible below the binding. The bobbin lace sewn to the top edge of the binding with white linen thread and has alternate motifs of white linen and crimson silk. 3D. One of the flower motifs, embroidered in crimson silk, that cover the sleeves and gussets.neckband, under hi Frangois C 5C. Inside 1 all the B. An emby videred ‘s in TIA, page worn open. The t the base of the high motif on th with tapere and a broidered with tiny in rich crimson silk, c. Tessuto, Prato, end of the tap stband, with t GB. There is a visible bulge at the vhere all the gathers of the neck ru ere is one eyelet hole at the top ‘band and another at the bottom, for 7m of mson silk. A cr jon floral top of the run and feie. aa & i ¥22 9A, 2 : 9D 9. White linen shirt, r a z T 9B. The neckband is edged with bobbin lace, in white and edged in red silk and white linen bobbin lace, Fe) linen and 1585-1620. Warwickshire Museum Services. nk/red silk. 9C. Honeysui ich for out and fillings, le motif in buttonhole si em and satin si 9A. Det and white 9D. The W. S. of the honeysuckle motif. QE, The bobbin lace is sewn to the edge of the wristband and all round the no visible sign of fastening on ing. There is the band, 9F. The open insertion seams between shirt and the gusset at the top of the worket silk. There is a embroidery on the side seams. 10. White linen shirt embroidered with isolated m f birds, flow bands of curving stems, ¢. 1585-1620. Fashion Museum, Bath. 10A. Linen tapes are sewn to ends of the wristband. 10B. Captain Thomas Lee wears a linen shirt embroidered in black silk, with bare legs (possibly in the guise of an Irish foot soldier). Portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1594. © Tate, London, 2008. 10C. The neck gusset is gathered into the neckband. 10D. The linen is beautifully woven and th seam between the sleeve and shoulder is very 10E. An isolated motif of oak leaves, acorns and bird. 1OF. The back of the sh rt is longer than the front. 1041ess at the back of the band where it neckband. in Field (probably) wearing a the neck. Portrait ermission of the 12D13F 13, Linen shirt with reversible embroidery in polychrome silks, silver and and silver-gilt thread, 1580-1600. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 13A. Henry, 5th Baron of Windsor wears a falling band and matching cuffs, embroidered in black silk ‘and edged in silver-gilt bobbin lace. Portrait by an unknown artist, 1588, The Earl of Plymouth Estates. 18B. Five unsewn darts at the back of the band to give fullness. The join between the gathered shirt neck and the band is covered on the inside by a strip of linen. 18C. The silver, silver-gilt and crimson silk bobbin lace is sewn to the edge of the shirt with pink silk. 18D. There is an eyelet hole at each end. of the wristband worked in crimson silk. The bobbin lace is sewn around the cuff and up the the sleeve opening. 13E. Detail of embroidery on the corner of the hem with two interlocking ‘S’ motifs in the corner 13K. The decorative seams on the R.S. where the body, sleeve and underarm gusset are joined. 14D 14, White linen shirt worn by Gustav I Adolf when he was wounded by a bullet which pierced his thigh at Kleinwerder in 1627. Photo © Livrustkamaren, Stockholm, photographer Goran Schmidt. 14A. The turnings of the shoulder seam are turned back and back-stitched along both sides, then the seam is oversewn from the R.S. IAB. The strip of linen bobbin lace sewn onto the edge of the neckband is gathered in to fit around the corner: 14. The gathering stitches in the neck of the shirt are visible where part of the neckband has come undone. 1AD. Sir John Eliot wearing a shirt with a lace-edged. neckband, like 14, turned down. The shirt has bobbin lace insertions in a chevron design like smock 80. The inscription on the portrait reads ‘Sir John Eliot painted a few days before his death in the Tower AD 1632, This may imply that he was depicted in his shirt because he was suffering from imprisonment and illness. The Port Eliot Collection, Plymouth. JAE. The sitter is wearing a linen shirt edged on the neckband and front opening with a deep border of lace. The bright red silk lining of his open doublet (with its collar turned down) is visible beneath the lace. An unknown man aged twenty-two, by Nicholas Hilliard, 1597. Victoria and. Albert Museum, London. JAF, Detail of the scallops on the strip of bobbin lace that is whipped to the outer edge of the wristband with linen thread.15C 15, White linen shirt, stained with blood, worn by Claes Bielkenstierna when he was wounded in in 1659. Livrustkammaren, Stockholm 15A. A small piece of linen is sewn behind the the opening in the side seam, for reinforcement. B, Nils Nilsson Brahe (1633-1699) wearing a white linen shirt that shows through the open sleeves and. front of his doublet. His lace-edged linen band and care separate items. Portrait by Jakob Elbfas? 1650, owned by Svea Lingarde. Photo © Livrustkammaren, Stockholm. Photographer Goran Schmidt. 15C. The neckband is top-stitched on the outside and hemmed to the gathers of the shirt on the inside. Th initial ‘C’can be seen embroidered on the inside of the band. 15D 15D. A narrow strip of linen is sewn on the inside, ‘over the place where the sleevehead gathers are whipped to the selvedge of the shirt, on the shoulder 15E. There is a worked oval hole at each end o wristband for bandstrings and a worked bar at the end of the wrist opening, for reinforcement, 15F. Tiny simulated french seams where of the shirt is underarm gus: selvedge sewn to the hemmed edges of the 15G. The en ends of the of the woven linen tapes attached to the ‘kband are hemmed. 15H. The worked bar at the bottom of the front neck opening has a tiny spider's web of twisted threa" iS28 18D 18B. Two rows of backst neckband help to hold al it. The hi is visible. wears a ruff ofa ina different pattern. People set in many styles. Portrait by 1589. © Weiss Gallery. ha hook and eye. 18D. The ruff fastens wi 18C 19B 1 dged. in bobbin Livrustkammaren, Stockholm, photographer Goran Schmidt, 19A. Sir Thomas Parker wears a fine linen ruff with three layers, edged in bobbin lace, with matching cuff in fine transparent linen. Portrait by Marcus Geeraerts, 1620. Saltram (National Trust). 19B. The 290 cartri of the neckband and two rows of ba: all the tur le the band. hole on the neckband. of ruff at CE 19C. The worked e: 19D. Detail of 19A showing three laye208 20. Shaped linen ru Is, c.1620- Manchester. TI four layers of the ruff ump inside edge. It is very 20C. The bobbin lace is overseu with tiny stiches in fine linen thr 20C he layers on this ruff as ~e not visible. His ful inen sh 20B. When mounted on a mannequin the depth of the ffcan be seen. to the %e" wide hem . 21, Pleat ers, ¢.1640, 2IB. Jacob III de Gh with similar sm 8. By perm icture Gallery ea pleats are sew 2 edges of the ruff are rolled and thi ‘onto the bai 21D. The se two widths of lr30 22. Full ruff with a deep neckband, c.1620-30. G m, Nurnbe inisches Nationalmuseum, 22A. The coarse along the folded top edge en neckband is pieced together, 22B. Each stitch hol cartridge pleats to 1 s two or sometimes three neckband on the R.S. 22C. Members of the Amsterdam surgeons’ guild wear ruffs set in various scrolling shapes. Detail of The Osteology Lesson of Dr Sebastiaen Egberts by Nicolaes Pickenoy, 1619. Amsterdams Historisch ‘Museum, 22D. The orie front edge of nal (brass?) eye is sewn inside the left ‘kbar 221 At the base roidery that band is a %" wide band of ps hi e pleats in place 22K, The selvedges of the fine, open-weave linen are whipped together. The ie" wide rolled hem is exquisitely stitched in fine linen thread. 23D 23, Full ruff of ine linen, c.1620-80. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 23A. Underneatl white as snow. Thirteen loops of on the W.S, of the neckband, possi through, to attach it to a rebato, the ruff, inside the folds, the linen is hread are sewn ly to pin or hook 28B. A row of fantastic stitches hold all the ea neckband. There are two double rows of bac with groups of three raised knots be edge of the neckband. The backslitching the pl ide the band. neat, tight and leats upright, to the helps t 23C. The warp (selvedge) runs right round the outer edge of the ruff, which is why it does not sit well. However, this may have been a deliberate way of cutting the ruff to help curling shapes spring out 23D. Detail from Die Familie Verspeeck by Wybi ather wears a very full ruff set into sero The ruff is quite flattened at the O.F his pointed beard.1620-40. long the top edge of the inside of his ses of the Holy Spirit Almshouse in = covered by painting by 31Supporters, underproppers, pickadils and rebatos pplyed round abi r r the ruffe, upon the out de of the are up the whole frame and dy of the ratfe from falling and hangi (Phillip Stub mie of Abuses, 15% ‘A Pacadile, a thing put about Man or Womans Neck up the Band, or Gorget. 7s in Randle Holme, The ademy of Armory, 1688 s, that one Higgins, a Taylor, who built it, most of his Estate by Picadille . Anne of L 25C. Where the bl support whalebone top layer: 25E. The underside supporte holding the two laye the paper bi he bottom in 7B, w3A. On the topside, the area ne: to the neck is Padded out with cotton wool (or wool?) to give a Wool padding i disintegr: linen thre the lin id sewn through the bi strip opening of the pickadil some of the is visible where the silk satin has ited. Also visible are th remains of the binding and the heav the neck edge. ing, which holds ——— ER i : i e 4 ee the pickadil. The linen strip vas probably either sewn or pinned to the collar of a doublet or gow 26E. Phineas Pett wears a fine, transparent linen a pickadil covered in carnation coloured silk, Portrait by an unknown artist. National Portrait Gallery, London ide of a woman's open pickadil, covered in that would have been ¢.1610-20, Victoria and ine of the tabs may be seen where the sitk satin has disintegrated. The tabs are cut with such precision that they fit without being stuck to the outer piece of pasteboard. twist covering the join between the pickadil tabs and the inner section. On this int section there are a series of stitches, like stab stitches, 270. The small curved neckpiece at the base of the pickadil has a pair of eyelet holes punched through it. The holes may have been worked originally but no threads or stitch-holes remain. 27D. The underside of the pickadil. The inner pasteboard piece has vertical rows of stem stitches, for decoration on )-15, acquired from the Isham famity of Lamport Hall in 1900. The pickadil (27) was acquired at the same time ani holes match those on the gown so well that been worn together: Vietoria and Albert28. Half of a man’s ivory sitk satin doublet with an integrated pickadil, c.1615-20, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2BA. An unknown gentleman wearing a slashed black doublet with an integrated pickadil. The pickadil tabs and the pickadil band are visible beneath the delicate lace edge of his linen band. The thickness of the pickadil has been depicted by the artist at the front edges. Detail of a portrait by William Segar, c.1605. © Tate, London 2008. 28B. The pickadil tabs project 1%" out from the collar band of the doublet. 28C. Each separate tab is made of stiff unsized paper covered in silk satin which has now rotied. Rebatos RL, Elizabeth, Countess of Brunswick is wearing rebato with the wire frame covered in red silk, beneath the standing band of her cutwork smock (or partlet), ¢.1610, The Royal Collection, Hampton Court. R2, Detail of RI. The rebato wires, probably covered in red sleve silk, are clearly visible beneath the cutwork. The outer edge of the rebato appears to end. on the lace-heading between the cutwork and the bobbin lace edging. If this is the case, the large seallops of the lace would have needed to be heavily starched to support themselves. 29, The topside of a rebato decorated with lines of bobbin lace, c.1610-20. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg. 29A. The wire frame on the underside of the rebato. 29B. One of the flower motifs of the wire frame on the underside of the rebato. Beneath the frame the disintegrating ivory silk may be seen. The lines of bobbin lace on the topside are stitched through the sitk and frame, with rows of linen tacking stitches. 29C. The neck fastens with a hook on the left side of CR and an eye on the right-hand side. They are both made from a continuation of the wire around the neck edge. A strip of silver-gilt lace goes around the neck, near the edge 29D. Large rebatos and pickadils are worn by both men and women in a detail of a painting of 16 Esaias van de Velde. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 29E. Detail of 29D, showing a woman wearing a rebato similar in size and shape to 29. 29F. One of the large bobbin lace seallop motifs on the lower edige of the rebato. The seallop-shaped wire supporting it is covered in sea-green sleve silk bound over in silver-gilt strip, creating a striped effect.32D ith pleated. round the neck edgt the gauze are left — not trimmed to neaten the edge. BIB. The gauze is pleated into the neck edge and oversewn with linen thread around the neck wire and all the other wires. Fragments remain of a black silk on that originally bound the neck. The rebato u re bound in fig-brown sleve silk, and then wrapped in gilt strip, giving a spiral striped effect. The thread of the bobbin lace has a brownish tint to it, 31D. 0 to 81, Gest. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. 82, Rebato frame and matching cuffs with embroidered silk. Both the rebato edged with black silk bobbin lace at ne ists, ¢.1620-35. The Metropolit jew York, 82A, The underside of B. The wires gilt strip 82C. Detail of the embroide1 32D. The undersizg37. Fine linen band edged with bobbin lace, ¢.1630. a linen band edged bobbin lace to 87. | 2 38 painting of Sir Thomas Lucy, Alice Spencer, Lady Lucy and. seven of n children, c.1625, an unknown artist. The Fairfax-Lucy Collection, Charlecote Park (The National Trust). B inner; the scalloped lace on the out n next to it, the strip ith round he neck edge ‘h other 38. Woman's pinner, made of linen and bobbin lace, for a square-necked gown. There is an offset front opening, to allow for a central scallop of bobbi 5. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Galleries. lace, lanchester rr folded at the shoulder ti uld have appeared wher 38B. A young girl wearing a lace pinner, fixed pins on top of a square-necked gow 1, But one lower neck and without a scalloped edge. Deen cutwork, c. 1635. The © The Bowes Museum, taron of Belasyse Ls over his sho bert Jackson, Nati Portrait of needlelace is gathered in to go n section of the band is on , as it lies at the back of the ne 89G. The sewn darts continue unsewn i cutwork section of the b 4142 4G. mM i % 660-65. Portrait Budapest424 423 433 42, Circular standing band in white linen. The edges 42B. Detail of the topside of the band. The darts are 48. Woman's linen partlet with attached darted band. of the front opening are trimmed with narrow strips of _ backstitched. The strips of linen are just over Ys" wide The partlet has a back-piece which is a facing that bobbin lace, ¢.1620-30. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, The gaps in between the strips are just under Mis" wide. was probably tucked inside the bodice to hold the Muni partlet in position, ¢.1630-40. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries. 42A. A nuff, like a disc, on a circu portrait by Wybrand na Catharina van Dekema flattened 42C. The linen is slightly wrinkled on the underside rr support. Detail of a of the band, where the darts run out and the applied 4A. Detail of W.. nonsz de Geest, 1 of side neck. Where the back facing strips of linen begin. The strips were applied first and ends on the shoulder, the darted band is darned (in Priesmuseum, Leeuwarden. the darts made in the linen afterwards. the place where many surviving shirts and. smocks have a neck gusset). There would be strain at this point, causing the linen to tear. The darts of the band are folded and hemmed down on R.S,, the folded 43B edges on W.S. are not sewn down. 43B, Fruit seller wearing a linen partlet over her bodies. A pin holds the partlet together halfway up the front opening. Detail of a painting by Louise Moillon. 1628-30. © RMN, photo Jean-Gilles Berizzi. 43C. Near the top of the front opening there is an eyelet hole and a worked loop on each side. Above the eyelet hole the hem is worked on the reverse side to be worn open, like the partlet in 43B, 43044D ‘ 44E 44 & 4A. Child's linen bib and matching tucker, 1640-50. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries. oe 44B. Child wearing a bib similar to 44. This may be a girl or a boy. Detail of a painting by an unknown artist, English School, c.1650-60. Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Norwich. 44C. W.S. of the join at C.B. of the tucker 44D. Detail of 44B showing a pin holding the stomacher in place in each top corner. 44E, Detail of 4B showing a pin that holds the bottom of the stomacher in place. AAR. The outer strip is pleated to fit round base o 45. Woman's plain linen tucker and matching strai cuffs, ¢.1640-55. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Gal 45A. The W.S. of the tucker: The strip for the neck is whipped onto the edge of the tucker. 45B, Both women wear plain tuckers and cuffs similar in shape to 45. Detail of an etching by Ed Marmion, Sight (from The Five Senses), c. The Pepys Library, Magdalene College, 45C. The tucker seen on the W. Originally the sit for the neck edge would probably have been turnet and pressed to the R.S, The darts are hemmed dot 6n one side only,46, Woman's linen neckerchief with a scalloped border GA. Matching cuffs. The cuffs would have been wed flat onto the outside of the sleeves of a gown, AGB. The scalloped border of the cuff is cut from a it strip of linen. The edges of the scall worked with tiny buttonhole stitches. 46C. Hester Tradescant wears a neckerchief with scalloped bobbin lace and matching cuffs. Her cuffs have a narrow lace on the wrist edge. Her neckerchief is cut in a less rounded shape than 46 as the folded front corners are quite pointed. The neckerchief may be fastened with a pin under her chin. Detail of a painting of Hester Tradescant and her stepson John, attributed to Thomas de C 545. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxfor 47. Woman's linen tucker and matching cuffs with scalloped edges. The cuffs are shown here with the ist edges at the top, c.1640-50. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries, 47A. A woman wearing two pairs of wide straight cuffs with scalloped edges. Detail of Autumne, etching by Wencesiaus Hollar, 1643. © The Trustees of the British Museum. TB. The last scallop on the neck edge of the tucker is eased around the corner and sewn to the centre front, where it meets the last wide scallop on the outer edge. The scalloped strips are sewn on with run and fell seams, Raised knots are worked on top of all th seams and around all the scallop edges.ight with blak silke ought with blak and white dered with salame tland, with silveraround of the } re 1610-: 1610-20. Mu f Fine iseum, ROM.59C ted. border. The oap is isa linen tape inforcement as th‘Smyth of Ashton Court wearing a linen cap witha " turned. back. The cap has a bright red silk around it, mate around her sand waist. Detail of a pai rele of ert Jackson, ¢.1630. © Weiss Gallery, London. 1C. The front border, e red with small cut iged with a strip of bol ‘pin marks on top of the cap, sdeges of tare int border opened out. cap and matching forehead cloth in fine embroidered borders of slits and ‘ked in buttonhole stitch, with fillings, are possibly recycled as of the b int wears a similar shaped cap bobbin lace, tied under her chin, beneath her of a painting attributed to Thomas de im, University of Oxford. linen with couched white 1, €.169 The Blackborne Collection, © Bowes Museum, Barns ertruida wears a cap similar to 61, witha bobbin lace border turned back. Detail of a painting of the family of Meyndert Sonck, 1662, by A. Rootius. GIB. The scrolling line of couched linen thread is worked. on the R.S, down to where the narrow strip of on the W.S. from here50 Accessories and Other Items 62. Pair of linen gloves embroidered in black and shite silk, edged in black silk and white linen bobbin lace, ¢.1610-20. Vietoria and Albert Museum, London. 62A. The glove cuff is embroidered in black silk with flowers and ladybirds, and edged in bobbin lace of black silk and white linen. 62A 6A 63. Linen drawers embroidered with polychrome and. metal threads, c.1600. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 68A. Detail of the embroidery. Some of the couched metal thread is missing, so you can see where the design was drawn out in brown ink. 3B. The drawers are edged in bobbin lace with alternate motifs of silver thread pink silk and silver-gilt thread/ moss-green silk, sewn onto the hemmed edge of the drawers with pink silk thread. 680. The run and fell seams are worked in decorative buttonhole stitch, At the top of one leg near the crotch there is a crude repair. 64. Linen drawers embroidered in silver and silver-gilt thread, c.1600. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 64A. The seams are decorative run and fell, in pinkish-brown silk. GAB. Worked eyelet hole in brown silk for a string to 64a tie the waistband. Tacking stitches remain in the: 64C. Hemmed edge of waistband on the W.S. 64D. Embroidered border, and bobbin lace wor ‘metal threads and two different brown silks. G4E & F. A Venetian woman wearing drawers ot breeches under her gown. They are tied around waist to her pair of bodies with points. Details two engravings by an unknown artist, 1590.0 ‘Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.